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Case Study: Vertical Deepwater Drilling Achieves Long Salt Section

PowerV system holds inclination to 0.17° or less for 10,000 ft in Gulf of Mexico

Solution: Use PowerV vertical drilling system in BHA to reduce side forces and dogleg severity.

Result: Held inclination to 0.17° or less for 10,000 ft; achieved average dogleg severity (DLS) of 0.09°/100 ft; and mitigated drilling risk and achieved challenging objectives.

Minimize tortuosity

An operator was drilling an exploratory well in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico’s Lower Tertiary
trend to test a prospect. Reaching the planned TD would require drilling a perfect hole in the
shallow sections and minimizing tortuosity in the vertical salt section, where 16-in casing would
be set. If those challenges were not met, it would be necessary to plug the well and sidetrack
or redrill it.

Reduce dogleg severity

The operator met the vertical drilling
challenge successfully using a BHA
incorporating a PowerV vertical drilling
system. The PowerV system held inclination
to 0.17° or less for 10,000 ft in the salt and
achieved an average DLS of just 0.09°/100 ft.

Maintain verticality

The ability of the PowerV system to
maintain verticality for 10,000 ft in salt
and minimize hole tortuosity saved the
time and cost of sidetracking or redrilling
the exploratory well to reach planned TD.
Based on the results achieved on this
well, the operator plans to use the PowerV
system to drill future wells that are even
deeper and more complex.